The mature disposition of secondary students did not brave the excitement
Some 81 secondary schools participated in day three of the revelry and excitement that marked the conclusion of the ‘Dance Two and Masquerade’ segment in the Georgetown Children’s Mashramani Competitions at the National Cultural Centre (NCC), yesterday. The entries were made under three themes: fantasy, religious beliefs and interpretive and the individual and groups dances, and masquerades – which we saw little of this year – were spectacles worth the acclaim.
The performances took the hundreds of students in the audience from their supposed mature disposition to breaking point by the end of the first two performances.
Maybe it was a sense of responsibility – being older and all than the participants of ‘Dance One and Masquerade’, who performed on Tuesday – but before long the excitement burst through and the NCC was a buzz for a third day – understandably so!
Dancing alone is a difficult and, for some, an intimidating feat, but Lodge Secondary’s Mika Clarke held her own, assisted by her costume and the manipulations of her body to resemble a spring of sorts.
Her entry titled ‘Festive Festive’ combined her individual skills as a dancer and popular moves, seen in music videos by the majority of students in on the music channel HJTV. The combination worked well and had the spectators cheering and singing in recognition.

Community Academy did their own thing and mixed things up with a bit of Indian and African native music, as well as – of course – some soca, to put things in perspective, Mashramani and all.
Performing was Melliann Welch whose agility on stage did more than just wow the audience in her entry ‘A cultural mix’.

North Georgetown Secondary, as usual, proved their mettle and refused to be outdone, brining their own drums to the stage to accompany Dianne Rampersaud in her entry ‘Threads of Africa’.

Adding to the impact of the drum’s intense beats were the dancer’s emotive expressions that did the crowd in.
Most were in awe, an effect of the music and dance combined, stepping out only when the performance had ended.

Moving the crowd from awe, Christ Church Secondary took the audience into something a little feistier.
Taraine Spencer and her entry ‘Lone Reveler’ left a keyed up the audience in a performance that saw her skillfully making use of her stage space.

Calming things down a bit was Richard Ishmael’s Karishma Charles, whose poise and graceful movements were well coupled with the emotive disposition she affected.

Her entry was titled ‘Faith and Hope’ and incited as much passion as her feisty counterpart.
Tutorial High made a bigger shift and paid tribute to the Reggae Great, Bob Marley, whose birthday was last Sunday.
The school’s Alyssa Griffith, with the entry ‘Ascension’, made her performance a plea for peace.
Sad to say though peace in the massive theatre only lasted the duration of the performance, after that it was back to the uproar that still makes you sit up each time the students make good on the opportunity to test the strength of their vocal chord.

Drama on the whole was a much appreciated feature in the dances and East Ruimveldt’s entry ‘Permanent Scars’ was somewhat eclipsed the term dramatic – it was in other words very intense.
Performed by Shonette Jasper, who danced Kelly Clarkson’s ‘Because of You’, the display was undeniably one of the best evoking the emotions of the audience, some were even singing with their eyes intent on the stage and hands clutched to their chests.
The acrobatics added to the intensity of the performance, which was set against the scene of a girl – the dancer – being gang raped.

On to group performances, North Georgetown Secondary entry had the audience on edge at the mention of the entry’s title alone – ‘Scarafrolic Jumbie’.
The performance had the crowds singing and dancing in their seats.
It was indeed a frolicking good time for most all at the NCC.

Now they say all good things must come to an end, but there was never mention of not starting it all up again. The NCC will be given a breather and today the show moves to the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall for the Costume segment.
This year’s theme for Mashramani, ‘Showcasing our culture, sustaining our pride’, and Guyana’s children, with the Mash Competitions, are doing a mighty good job at exemplifying the meaning of that theme.